It is easier to build strong children, statesman Frederick Douglass once observed, than to repair broken men. We have a decidedly mixed report card on this front in Orange County, as the county's latest "Annual Report on the Conditions of Children" illustrates in dispassionate -- if somewhat passion-inducing -- facts and figures.

Already a Honolulu Star-Advertiser subscriber. Log in now to continue reading. January is Poverty Awareness Month, a time to confront a reality often hidden in plain sight.